FGM

DAKAR - Human rights campaigners who have been struggling for years to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM) in West Africa got a boost this week as news emerged that a group of Muslim clerics and scholars in Mauritania had declared a fatwa, or religious decree, against the practice.

Indonesian authorities must immediately repeal the newly issued government regulation permitting female circumcision (‘sunat perempuan’), and instead enact specific legislation with appropriate penalties prohibiting all forms of female genital mutilation (FGM). The new regulation legitimizes the practice of female genital mutilation and authorizes certain medical professionals, such as doctors, midwives and nurses, to perform it. The new regulation defines this practice as “the act of scratching the skin covering the front of the clitoris, without hurting the clitoris”. The procedure includes “a scratch on the skin covering the front of clitoris (frenulum clitoris) using the head of a single use sterile needle” (Article 4.2 (g)). According to the new regulation, the act of female circumcision can only be conducted with the request and consent of the person circumcised, parents, and/or guardians.

Dr. Isatou Touray and Ms. Amie Bojang-Sissoho are, respectively, the Executive Director and Program Coordinator for the Gambia Committee for Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP), and have for many years been active in the promotion of gender equality, rights of women and children, particularly in the fight against female genital mutilation and other discriminatory practices. In May 2010, the Presidency set up a commission of investigation into the allegation that GAMCOTRAP had been mis-managing donor funds from an organization called Yolocamba Solidaridad.

Former Solicitor General Amie Bensouda has expressed dissatisfaction with the way, and manner the police investigated the GAMCOTRAP alleged theft case saying that the work of the police was the least satisfactory.She told a court in Banjul that the police investigations were improper. Lawyer Bensouda argued that Gamcotrap is not a central bank licensed micro-credit organisation, and therefore not legally permitted to give-out micro-credit, as alleged by the state. Butthe state witness maintains that he did not know that a central bank license is required for one to operate a micro-credit.

Though the Indonesian government banned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) four years ago, experts say religious support for the practice is more fervent than ever, particularly in rural communities. A lack of regulation since the ban makes it difficult to monitor, but medical practitioners say FGM/C remains commonplace for women of all ages in this emerging democracy of 240 million - the world’s largest Muslim nation. Although not authorized by the Koran, the practice is growing in popularity.

The dissemination of a Human Rights Watch report on 16 June 2010 on FGM, and the reaction by activists and NGOs to the report, ignited a controversy about the issue. Also, in the last couple of days and on 6 July 2010, the Association of Islamic Clerics in Kurdistan issued a “fatwa” on FGM in which parents [or guardians] of girls were given the choice of whether to genitally mutilate their girls.